Charleston, S.C.—S.C.
Sea Grant Consortium will hold the annual Board of Directors meeting
from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on September 12, 2007 at the College of
Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, S.C. Items on the agenda
include a review of the Consortium’s 2006-10 Strategic Plan, reports on
program activities and selected accomplishments, 2006-07 state and
federal accountability reports, 2008-09 state budget and NOAA/Sea Grant
fiscal year 2008 appropriations. Election of the next Consortium Board
Chair will also be held.

The Consortium’s
Board of Directors is composed of the chief executive officers of its
eight member institutions. Current board members are: Board Chair Dr.
Andrew A. Sorensen, president of University of South Carolina; James F.
Barker, president of Clemson University; Dr. David A. DeCenzo,
president of Coastal Carolina University; Dr. P. George Benson,
president of College of Charleston; Dr. Raymond S. Greenberg, president
of Medical University of South Carolina; John E. Frampton, executive
director of S.C. Department of Natural Resources; Dr. Andrew H. Hugine,
Jr., president of S.C. State University; and Lt. General John W. Rosa,
president of The Citadel.

The S.C. Sea
Grant Consortium, a university-based state agency, seeks to enhance the
practical use and conservation of South Carolina’s coastal and marine
resources that foster a sustainable economy and environment. The
Consortium is a member of the nationwide network of 30 Sea Grant
Programs that are sanctioned through the NOAA National Sea Grant
College Program, U.S. Department of Commerce. For more information
about the Consortium, visithttp://www.scseagrant.org.

Charleston, S.C.—
The S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program, S.C. Department of Natural
Resources (SCDNR) and Clemson University have scheduled two blue crab
computer model workshops on April 5 at the SCDNR Marine Resources
Research Institute, 217 Fort Johnson Road, in Charleston. The free
workshops are open to anyone interested in learning more about how the
blue crab model works and what it can reveal about the future of blue
crabs in South Carolina. Registration for each workshop is limited to
15 people so that individualized, hands-on training on how to use the
model can be provided. To sign up contact Amber Von Harten, S.C. Sea
Grant Extension Program fisheries specialist, at (843) 470-3655 ext.
112 or via e-mail at ambervh@clemson.edu.

The
first workshop, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., will focus on how the
model was created, and its use in population analysis and fisheries
management. The second workshop, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., will
cover how to use the model to track crab movements, trap efficiency and
the impact of changes in water quality on blue crab populations.

Dr.
Michael Childress of Clemson University and Dr. Elizabeth Wenner of
SCDNR created the computer model, called the South Carolina Blue Crab
Regional Abundance Biotic Simulation (SCBCRABS), to study how water
pollution, winter freezes, habitat destruction, tropical storms and
fishing pressure affects the blue crab commercial fishery. SCBCRABS was
developed with support from the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium. For more
information about the SCBCRABS project and to see the model in action,
visit www.clemson.edu/SCBCRABS.

The
S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program is a joint outreach program of the
Clemson University Extension Service and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.
The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, a university-based state agency, seeks
to maximize the economic, social and environmental potential of the
state’s coastal and marine resources through the support of integrated
research, education and extension programs.

Rick Huffman of Pickens Wins 2006 Environmental Awareness Award

Rick Huffman has been named winner of the 2006 South Carolina Environmental Awareness Award.

In
a ceremony Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at the South Carolina State House,
Tom Davis, Governor Mark Sanford's Chief of Staff, announced the winner
and recognized Huffman for outstanding contributions toward the
protection, conservation and improvement of South Carolina's natural
resources.

Huffman, who lives in
Pickens, is being honored for his many achievements including founding
the South Carolina Native Plant Society in 1996. “Our winner has logged
hundreds of thousands of miles and thousands of hours in the
development of the Society into a statewide organization with four
regional chapters and numerous successful programs and initiatives,”
Davis said.

The Society is an organization
whose considerable resources of time, people and money are focused on
preserving and restoring native plant communities and in educating the
public on the character and importance of native plant communities.

“Due
to the hard work of our winner and the many volunteers of the Society,
they now own the Lisa Matthews Memorial Carolina Bay; a 52-acre
property managed for the protection of the endangered Canby’s Dropwort
and other Carolina Bay species,” Davis added.

In
addition, Huffman co-founded, along with US Forest Service soil
scientist Dennis Law, the joint S.C. Native Plant Society/USFS native
seed collection program. This very successful program has enabled the
US Forest Service in South Carolina to shift almost entirely to local
source seeds of native grasses and some wildflowers in their vegetation
restoration programs in the three Districts of the Sumter National
Forest.

The S.C. General Assembly
established the S.C. Environmental Awareness Award in 1992 to recognize
outstanding contributions toward the protection, conservation and
improvement of South Carolina's natural resources.

The
award is sponsored by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, S.C. Department of
Natural Resources, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
and the S.C. Forestry Commission.

The two-year competitive
grant program will address commercial and recreational marine fisheries
issues. Proposals are being requested from commercial fishermen and
recreational fishing groups for the purpose of developing innovative
and creative research projects that will address important fisheries
management issues. Pre-proposals are due at the Consortium office by
5:00 p.m. on March 12, 2007.

Funding will
be awarded for competitive projects that address important issues in
five main topic areas: resource assessment projects to help understand
different aspects of fish populations; fisheries biology projects to
examine fish population interactions; socio-economic investigative
proposals to work with fishermen to understand financial and personal
connections, as well as a history of South Carolina fisheries; fishery
management projects to assess how fish populations are managed; and
sustainable harvesting technology proposals to research environmentally
sound and economically feasible tools and techniques for landing fish.